The Last Dance: Dennis Rodman held the Pippenless Bulls together

The Last Dance goes into detail on how Dennis Rodman was the spark the 1997-1998 Chicago Bulls needed while Scottie Pippen was out.

In 1997-1998, the Chicago Bulls were attempting to win their sixth NBA title but struggled mightily without Scottie Pippen, who was sidelined due to ankle injury and demanded to be traded because of his poor relationship with general manager Jerry Krause. That’s when Dennis Rodman stepped in and turned the tide of the Bulls season.

Rodman got off to a rocky start to the season because he refused to accept the fact that he needed to play a bigger role and be more accountable with the absence of Pippen. As a result, the Bulls struggled greatly.

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Rodman had the skills to be a quality NBA player, but the problem was his motivation: “Dennis Rodman’s the best on-ball defender I’ve ever seen. The problem was he wasn’t always motivated to play,” David Aldridge said.

Everything changed one night after Rodman got ejected from a game. Later that night Rodman showed up to Michael Jordan‘s hotel room, which was strange because Jordan said that Rodman had never come to his hotel room before. Rodman came to Jordan’s room to ask for a cigar, but what it really was Rodman’s way of communicating to Jordan that he screwed up.

“It was his way of saying ‘Man, I f***ed up. And from that point on, Dennis was straight as an arrow. And we started to win,” Jordan said during episode three of The Last Dance.

After Rodman and Jordan’s hotel visit, Rodman stepped up his game and became much more accountable. Rodman’s turnaround directly correlated with the turnaround of the Bulls season, as they started winning games and looking like the two-time defending champion team they were.

Dennis brought much-needed energy and effort to the Bulls team and was a lockdown defender. He stepped into his role and played it at a high level.

“Dennis is what held us together when Scottie was out,” Bulls head coach Phil Jackson said. “He had to really focus to make us as competitive as we were.”

Without Rodman’s turnaround, it is likely that the Bulls fall apart and don not go on to win their third consecutive championship, which was their sixth overall championship. As good as Michael Jordan was Chicago needed a player like Rodman if they were going to win it all. Rodman described how vital he was to the Bulls in episode three of The Last Dance.

“You know you got the great Michael Jordan, the great Scottie Pippen, and the great Phil Jackson, but if you take me away from this team do they still win a championship? I don’t think so,” Rodman said. “I love all these guys, but they really don’t do the things I do. I’m the only guy that got to go out there and do the dirty work.”